CURRENT WORK
SustainEd Farms supports students and communities throughout and beyond Denver with sustainable agriculture programming and hands-on experiential learning opportunities. We believe these initiatives support our teams in working toward our organization's mission : Grow food, Grow Knowledge, Grow Justice.
Check out our main activities below and for a more detailed overview of our programming.
Looking to partner with us? Visit our Partner application page to learn more and apply. You can also support our work by exploring different opportunities on the Support Our Work page.
BRINGING SCHOOL GARDENS TO LIFE
We want to help schools build their vision. To do this, we approach school communities to ask what they envision for their school garden, brainstorm what that garden programming could be, and come up with ideas to implement through collaboration and partnership. This work includes giving supplies and materials, seedlings, seeds and compost to schools, which they can use to start gardens or plant their existing gardens. We’ve also taken abandoned school gardens and revamped them entirely, planting and getting them set up for the summer.
EDUCATION AND MAINTENANCE
Part of our work also involves coming into school classrooms to teach students how to start their own seeds. When we return to do community planting, each student gets to plant their own seedlings and the school community itself completes the season’s planting. In addition, we curate garden activities like bug releases, art projects, and more. During the summer, SustainEd Farms helps maintain gardens so they stay thriving and can turn into a learning space in the fall. This includes watering and taking care of the gardens, as well as harvesting any food to include in our farm shares with the community.
FOOD JUSTICE
We want to ensure that every crop grown on our school gardens and farms makes its way into the hands of local Denver families. We do this by donating 100% of food harvested from school gardens to either Bienvenidos Food Bank, Vive Wellness’ food distribution program, or Huerta Urbana’s pay-what-you-can farmers market. Food justice is not just a question of getting food to people; it’s a question of people having the freedom to choose what foods they want in culturally and personally relevant ways.
A Look at Our Programming
SustainEd Farms offers different types of garden programming based on grade level. Our ECE and elementary school learners receive about four lessons in the garden during the growing season. Each time these students join us, they participate in both a garden and nutrition lesson. In the past, these lessons have included planting, bug exploration, garden scavenger hunts, "homemade" Tajin to try with radishes, pumpkin oat power bites, and promoting CO local foods through taste tests! Thanks to our Program Manager, Maya, and our commitment to always presenting new and engaging material, students will never receive the same lesson twice - with the exception of planting their school gardens with us in the spring.
Our middle school learners have the option to opt-in to an elective class. Staff and students see each other 2-3 times a week throughout the school year. Each quarter addresses a different topic, and students are able to switch electives each quarter. However, we often see many of the same students quarter to quarter! During the fall quarter, students are taught how to maintain a garden. Often, this is the first time that many of them have seen food production in person, and others may try their first garden tomato and comment on how different it tastes from storebought. Quarters 2 and 3 bring us inside as we teach intros to nutrition and food justice, respectively. Once a week, students will prepare and eat a dish based on the lessons they learned earlier in the week. Finally, in quarter 4, students learn about soil quality, planting methods, and how to design a garden. Then, when the weather is warm enough, we get to plant the school garden.
Typically, with high school students, SEF supports and guides them in an internship. Depending on the school, this internship occurs either during the school year or during the summer. Regardless, student interns receive exposure to urban agriculture and green career pathways while exploring related topics of interest in-depth. Summer interns from Bruce Randolph High School have the opportunity to work in their hydroponic farm and bring harvest produce to the Huerta Urbana Farmers market. This internship provides the necessary experience, which can be used when searching for a job and applying for scholarships and college.
